Devlog #2: Laying the Foundation

Day 2 of SUIT development, and lo and behold I've managed to accomplish all the goals I set out to do from yesterday. I finished writing down what thoughts I hadn't finished from a couple days ago, then took all that information and organized it into a more succinct game outline, which I can now continue to use and update as development continues. I've noted what areas of development may prove problematic, and I established a rough timeline that I will be attempting to follow.

The game outline is split into 4 sections: mechanics, UI, assets, and story. In my mind, these categories encompass most everything I'll need to worry about (though programming is also a consideration when thinking about mechanics and UI), and I can focus in on each easily. Mechanics I don't expect to pose too much of a problem. The most complicated part of that will be setting up item examination and storyline progression through those examinations. I haven't worked much with C#, so I'll likely need some time to prime myself on it as well. Aside from that, character movement is bog-standard, with no need to worry about jumping or sprinting or whatnot. I can probably just use the default first-person controller and tweak some values. UI is probably my second highest area of concern, as I have very little experience in designing UI. It won't need to be complex, just some menus, prompts, and 2-box displays for item examination, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to have a basic UI up and running within 1-3 days max. Gathering assets is likely to be  time-consuming, but shouldn't be overly difficult (at least in terms of room items). I'd like to try and keep a consistent art style throughout, I just don't know how feasible that will be if I go with using free Unity store assets. The sound assets should pose less of a hassle, as sound is my one area of relative expertise. I'll just need to take care to create appropriately thematic music for each of the levels in the game. Story is what I'm least stressed about, as it ties into working within Unity/Wwise the least. I've dabbled with creative writing in the past, so hopefully this project allows me to flex those muscles a bit more and work on my character writing, weaving a story through examining the world, all that good stuff.

Here's my rough (and optimistic) timeline for the game's development:

• Phase 1: Lay foundation, draft up story, determine requirements and constraints (3-4 days)
• Phase 2: Build and prototype, revise story, create basic UI, have all rooms in at least some basic form, sketch out music tracks (~1.5 weeks)
• Phase 3: Hone and polish, refine music tracks, have concrete story and gameplay progression, finish sound design (~1 week)

This is of course, the best case scenario for the game's development. I honestly do not expect it to keep going this way once I'm into Phase 2, and the release date may need to be pushed back. If I can follow it, though? That'd be excellent.

So, going into tomorrow, here's what I hope to accomplish:

• Continue development of the story. I have the basic premise of the game, but it still needs a lot of fleshing out to have a decent start-to-end.
• Write up outlines for two of the characters. Every character currently has a name and a nickname, but not much more beyond that. I'm going to write up as much as I can about two of the characters: their physical characteristics, their personalities, backstories, relationships with other characters, and the contents/layout of their room (this way I am better prepared to begin assembling rooms in Phase 2).

That should be enough to keep me busy for a little bit. I'll be sure to let you know how it went tomorrow, so stay tuned.